North Carolina has lost its appeal to reinstate a 2013 voter ID law which required photo identification, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

With the court’s liberal and conservative wings each holding fast, creating a 4-4 decision, the court went with the ruling of a lower court made on the basis that the law unjustly discriminates against minorities, the poor and elderly.

The ID provision of the law would have allowed citizens to vote if they had one of eight different forms of identification.

The court’s action Wednesday was not the final ruling on the merits of the law, but on the state’s argument that the law should remain in place while it moves forward with its fight against the appeals court’s ruling.

“Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Anthony Kennedy and Samuel Alito would have allowed North Carolina to proceed with most of the changes blocked by the 4th Circuit,” The Hill reported.

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Justice Clarence Thomas was entirely supportive of the state’s position.

The law had been upheld by a U.S. District Court, but the 4th Circuit Court overturned that ruling in June after an appeal from the Department of Justice, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and other groups.

“We can only conclude that the North Carolina General Assembly enacted the challenged provisions of the law with discriminatory intent,” Circuit Court Judge Diana Gribbon Motz wrote in the June opinion.

Gov. Pat McCrory was indignant at the Supreme Court’s action, saying North Carolina “has been denied basic voting rights already granted to more than 30 other states to protect the integrity of one person, one vote through a common-sense voter ID law.”

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“… we were pleased that four justices, including Chief Justice John Roberts, agreed with this right while four liberal justices blocked North Carolina protections afforded by our sensible voter laws,” he said.

North Carolina also lost in its effort to reduce the number of days for early voting from 17 to 10.

“Challenges to laws in Texas and Wisconsin are also likely to end up before the high court, which could remain deadlocked until a successor to the late Justice Antonin Scalia is confirmed,” The Hill reported.